Genesis 35:2-4

35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. ¹  Purify yourselves and change your clothes. ²  35:3 Let us go up at once ³  to Bethel. Then I will make ⁴  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress ⁵  and has been with me wherever I went.” ⁶ 

35:4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession ⁷  and the rings that were in their ears. ⁸  Jacob buried them ⁹  under the oak ¹⁰  near Shechem

¹ tn Heb “which are in your midst.”

² sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the Lord in worship.

³ tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.

⁴ tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.

⁵ tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.

⁶ tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).

⁷ tn Heb “in their hand.”

⁸ sn On the basis of a comparison with Gen 34 and Num 31, G. J. Wenham argues that the foreign gods and the rings could have been part of the plunder that came from the destruction of Shechem (Genesis [WBC], 2:324).

⁹ sn Jacob buried them. On the burial of the gods, see E. Nielson, “The Burial of the Foreign Gods,” ST 8 (1954/55): 102-22.

¹⁰ tn Or “terebinth.”